Alarm bells over disability support

The Government needs to re-think the support it provides for growing numbers of New Zealand children living with disabilities, Labour’s Children’s spokesperson Jacinda Ardern says.

“A report from the Child Poverty Action Group shows that of the 95,000 children now living with a disability, a higher percentage of them experience poverty when compared to the national average.

“While there are targeted forms of non-income tested support made available to the parents of these children, the number of people receiving support has declined dramatically.

“It makes absolute no sense that there are more children living with disabilities, and yet the number of allowances administered by Work and Income has halved since 2008.

“That should ring alarm bells with Minister for Disability Issues Nicky Wagner. She needs to immediately assess what the issues are, including possible barriers facing families trying to access the allowances.

“Anything less than a comprehensive response from the Minister will confirm that the Government is simply trying to reduce costs, at the expense of kids,” Jacinda Ardern says.